Resumo Apresentação da profunda transformação que ocorreu nos últimos trinta anos sobre o Portugal Habsburgo (1580-1640), destacando o magistério de António Manuel Hespanha nessas alterações. Descreve-se o processo de ressignificação histórica do referido período em relação às formas de pré-conhecimento nacionalistas. Esboça-se, igualmente, uma reflexão sobre o futuro dos estudos de história ibérica perante o actual debate sobre as escalas e as cronologias da análise histórica.

Abstract In this paper, I focus on the profound changes that have taken place over the last thirty years regarding the way in which historians approach Hapsburg Portugal (1580-1640), and highlight the important contribution made by António Manuel Hespanha in this matter. The way in which the period has been subjected to a process of historical resignification is described against a background of nationalist preconceptions. I also offer a perspective for the future study of Iberian history in the light of the current debate on the chronologies and timescales of historical analysis.

Abstract This work is concerned with the expressive dimensions of 16th and 17th century writing, reflecting on material forms as creators of meaning, especially through the use of handwriting. It is proposed that the study of the holograph writing included a particular economy of time that created relations of sociability and which was used as a sign of acknowledgment of a collective ethos experienced in an individual manner. The classic origins of epistolary writing are evoked as revealing the soul, focusing on the writing of the Sardinian Sigismondo Arquer (c. 1525-1571) and his particular definition of intrus and extra writings.

Resumen Este trabajo se interesa por las dimensiones expresivas de la escritura durante los siglos XVI y XVII a partir de una reflexión sobre las formas materiales como creadoras de sentido, en especial por medio del recurso a la escritura de mano propia. Se propone que el uso de la holografía manuscrita encerraba una economía particular del tiempo que generaba relaciones de sociabilidad y que era empleada como signo de reconocimiento de un ethos colectivo vivido de manera individual. Se evocan los orígenes clásicos de la escritura epistolar como reveladora del ánimo y se presta atención a la elaboración de este tópico en los escritos del sardo Sigismondo Arquer (c. 1525-1571) y su particular definición de escrituras intus y extra.